The Depths

by John Creasey

  “I don’t.”

  “Then you should.” Higgins pulled at the lobe of his right ear. “Let me put it this way. Some people, in parts of Australia and in the United States, in South America and some little known parts of the Orient, have perfect teeth; calcium in the water is the secret. Even skeletons found hundreds of years after burial have no sign of decay in the teeth. In other places, the local conditions – water, soil, even air – create other perfections. Some people have remarkable eyesight, others exceptional hair – as in some Balkan countries – others very powerful muscles, others a skin free from blemish. This girl has—but damn it, Palfrey! You know all this as well as I do!”

  Palfrey was playing with his hair.

  “Part of it,” he admitted. “As far as you can judge, this girl is a perfect physical specimen.”

  “Yes.”

  “In spite of the coma.”

  Higgins ran all of his fingers through his hair.

  “Conceivably because of it.”

  “Ah,” said Palfrey.

  “Suspected that, did you?”

  “I had an uneasy suspicion,” Palfrey admitted.

  “Uneasy? Suspicion? What’s the matter with you?”

  “The cost of perfection could be too high,” Palfrey said. “Mind looking at another corpse?”

  “Must I?”

  “Please.”

  “Very well,” Higgins agreed. “But Palfrey, you know what this might be, don’t you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Prove that you know.”

  “A variation of deep-freeze,” Palfrey answered. “Coma with very slow heart beat. Absolute rest; if one has enough of it, it could prolong life for a long time.”

  “Indefinitely,” Higgins said. “Indefinitely. Some recent experiments have shown beyond doubt that if the strength and functions of the heart can be maintained over a long enough period by complete rest, the other parts of the body will remain healthy for a very long time. Centuries. Methorst in his experiments in Vienna, Grundig in Frankfurt, Balmain in Chicago, Mitsni in Tokyo, are all working along those lines, and animals with a normal life expectancy of three years have lived to ten. Comparatively few experiments, as far as we know”— Higgins paused for the significance of that proviso to sink in— “have been made with human beings. However, this woman—”

  “How old is she?”

  “Don’t ask me to guess.”

  “Guess.”

  “Between twenty and forty-five.”

  Palfrey said: “I see.” They were walking along passages in the shelter, watched curiously by the guards, for they made such a strange contrast, with Palfrey towering over Higgins, and Higgins looking twice as broad across the shoulders.

  They went into a small, cold room. On a stone bench lay a draped figure. Palfrey pulled the white sheet down, over the naked body of the man who had been found at the bottom of the ravine in the mountains. There were no signs of decomposition. The legs and arms were badly bruised and there were other ugly bruises at the neck and chest. Apart from these and the broken arm the body looked to be in perfect condition, and the skin was almost identical with the colour, texture and blemishlessness of the girl Leah’s.

  Higgins caught his breath, and bent over the body.

  Soon, he drew back.

  “Everything I said about the girl is true of this man. How did he die?”

  “Of a broken neck, presumably from a fall.”

  “When?”

  “Forty-eight hours ago.”

  “Has there been any embalming?”

  “None. The body has been kept in this temperature.”

  “Palfrey,” Higgins said in a throaty voice, “you’re onto something quite remarkable here.”

  “Phenomenal?”

  “Undoubtedly.”

  “That’s what I was afraid of.”

  “Afraid?” Higgins’s eyes were glistening, his big strong hands waved excitedly, he began to stamp about the room. “Palfrey, this could be the secret which man has been seeking since the dawn of humankind. This might be the secret of extending the physical life span beyond man’s dreams. This might be—” Higgins broke off, almost choking. “My God! Don’t you see?”

  “I see,” Palfrey said. He patted the tendrils of hair down into a little kiss-curl, having no idea how quaint the mannerism looked, and then went on: “I want to know the price.”

  “It is priceless. Beyond all price.”

  “Not yet,” Palfrey objected.

  “Are you mad?”

  “Possibly,” Palfrey said. “Before we can live for so long I would like to see a better kind of man with a dream of absolute goodness. You know what happened in Nice. You know—”

  “Oh, sentimental bosh!” exclaimed Higgins. “You, a scientist, ought to know better.”

  “A human being.”

  “Now, Palfrey! I’m disappointed in you. You’re a scientist first. This could be mankind’s dream. To save what we have called peace and freedom and liberty, all the human rights, we have fought savage wars and killed millions—hundreds of millions!—of people. A localised disaster like that at Nice—come! Before this year is out there will be a dozen natural disasters causing as much or more in suffering and destruction – and all purposeless. Understand? All without purpose of any kind. But this – my God, Palfrey, you ought to be crying for joy. Can you find where these people come from? Can you even—?”

  He broke off.

  Palfrey turned his head. The door had opened some seconds before and he had seen who it was out of the corner of his eye. Higgins had been so transported by his reactions that he had noticed nothing. Now he turned, also.

  A giant came in, a man so broad, so tall, so massive in every way, that he made Higgins gape, seemed to drive away all the excitement in the doctor. The giant closed the door. His movements were slow and deliberate, as if he knew that a man of such size and such physical development had to use his strength with care. He was neither dark nor fair, and his wiry hair, brushed straight back from his forehead, waved slightly. He was handsome, and the size of his features did nothing to detract from that handsomeness. His eyes were a clear grey, and the expression was one of great calmness.

  Looking at him, it would be easy to believe that one was looking at the face of a saint.

  He smiled.

  “Hallo, Sap.”

  “Hallo, Stefan.” Palfrey touched Higgins’ arm. “You haven’t met Dr Ephraim Higgins, have you? Higgins – here’s Stefan Andromovitch, who works with me.”

  The Russian stood head and shoulders above Higgins.

  “My God!” Higgins gasped. “They come in King Size, too.”

  Palfrey smiled. Andromovitch put out his hand. Higgins hesitated before he took it.

  “I am honoured,” Andromovitch said.

  “I’m bewildered,” said Higgins. “First Palfrey shocks me with longevity, then—”

  “Did you hear us?” Palfrey asked Andromovitch.

  “Yes.”

  “Then tell him how right I am,” urged Higgins. “Tell him that this is the greatest discovery yet made by man. If you know where these two came from, you’ve got to tell the world. The scientific world, anyhow. The fact that he appears to have shown his power by a demonstration like that at Nice isn’t important. No one could overcome men like these.”

  Andromovitch said: “I imagine a lot of people will think like you.”

  “Don’t you agree?”

  “No.”

  “Two lunatics!”

  “Dr Higgins,” Andromovitch said in his calm voice, “Palfrey is quite right. When we have found absolute goodness we can start to concern ourselves about finding everlasting or absolute life – not until then.”

  “This is humanita
rian hogwash.”

  “Sap,” Andromovitch said, “I have just come back via London, as you know.”

  “Yes.”

  “Merritt has had the replies in from over a hundred agents, since we described this woman. There are seventeen authenticated instances of this kind of human being having been found, always in a coma. The reports come from hospitals and clinics. Most of the people have come round, but given no satisfactory explanation of their condition. Only a few can be traced.”

  “Seventeen of them!” cried Higgins. “These aren’t isolated cases, then. If anyone can do this seventeen times, it is the greatest discovery mankind has ever made.”

  “All right,” Palfrey said. “If it’s what we think it is, it’s a great discovery—”

  “The greatest!”

  “We still have to compute the price paid for it.”

  “No price could be too high. Palfrey – I want to have this woman examined by Smythe-Paterson. I want to take her to London. Quickly.”

  “Well, you can’t,” Palfrey said. “You can have the man’s body flown over, if you want, for an autopsy, but not the woman’s. Stefan – where did the reports come from?”

  “I am quoting Merritt,” Stefan answered. “Two come from Japan, one from Australia, one from Germany, two from Russia, one—” as he went on, Higgins began to pace the room, as if he could not keep still.

  “Whom are the reports from?”

  “Our own agents. They’ve followed the request we sent out on the day of the wave at Nice for more information about the investigations into the disappearance of scientists. We sent a description of the woman’s physical condition and used the phrase ‘self-hypnosis’. In three cases the suspects are known to have been spying on our own investigators – in each case the suspects escaped. One of them was killed in a car smash soon afterwards, and the pathologist’s report made it clear that—”

  “Where can I see the report?” interrupted Higgins. “I need to see it.”

  “We’ll make it available for you,” Palfrey promised. “What about the other fourteen, Stefan?”

  The giant spread his great hands, and answered:

  “They all corresponded to the description of the woman Leah. The common factor in each case was the golden-coloured skin, absolutely free from blemish. In five cases after men were questioned they went into a coma which seemed to be faked. Only since our inquiry has self-hypnosis been considered. In some cases the suspect recovered and swam out to sea and was lost, or jumped overboard from a ship or even parachuted from aircraft into the sea.”

  Stefan stopped.

  “Do you mean they disappeared beneath the water and haven’t come back?” squeaked Higgins.

  “That is exactly what I mean. Many of these suspects disappeared in much the same way as Professor Corvell, and as many other scientists and specialists of renown.”

  “Into the sea,” breathed Higgins. “Do you think that’s where they come from?” Before either of the others could speak, he answered himself. “Of course not. It’s ludicrous. They must have been taken away by fast moving craft. They must have been.” He caught his breath. “We’ve got to find one of them, got to make them talk. Palfrey, I still don’t think you understand the breathtaking significance of this. It could alter the course of mankind’s history.”

  Palfrey said gravely: “At least we’re agreed on that. New—”

  He stopped when there was a tap at the door of the room. Duval came in, on Palfrey’s call.

  “Dr Palfrey,” he said. “There is a message for you. A message of great importance.” He glanced at Higgins, hesitated, and went on in a flat voice: “From the man who caused so much destruction in Nice.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  SECOND ULTIMATUM

  Higgins stared open-mouthed. Andromovitch hardly stirred.

  “What is the message?” Palfrey asked.

  “He is to telephone you at four o’clock.” Duval glanced at his watch, and the others instinctively did the same; it was now twenty minutes to four. “Will you talk to him?”

  “Yes.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Does he know where I am?”

  “The message was received from the Chief of Police at Nice. You were asked to be at a telephone in the Nice region, at four o’clock.”

  “Will it do here?”

  “Yes. When the call comes it will be put through to any number you wish.”

  “We’ll go to the office,” Palfrey said. “Will you find out—” he hesitated. “I’ll talk to Merritt,” he said, and went briskly to the door. “We need to make every effort to find out where this man calls from. If it’s humanly possible to trace that call—”

  He broke off.

  “Palfrey,” Higgins said, “it must be traced. You’ve got to do a deal with this man. I’ve got to talk to him. If I had ten minutes with him, five even, I might get a clue to the secret.”

  “I’ll do all I can,” Palfrey assured him.

  In the age of easy communications, he was talking to Merritt in London within three minutes. Duval was with him, but Higgins was out of the office when the call came through.

  “You’ve seen Stefan, I hope,” Merritt said.

  “Yes, I have. Alec, I want you to send immediate radio-communication to every agent. A call is coming to me at Nice from an unknown source. I must trace it. If ordinary communications are used—”

  Merritt said: “They won’t be.”

  “Why not?”

  “He’s talked to me,” Merritt answered, bleakly. “He uses radio-telephonic methods, breaking in on one of our usual wave-lengths as and when he pleases. No one has yet been able to trace the source of the call. Sap—”

  “Yes.”

  “He has threatened to destroy all the capital ships of the British Navy unless you release the woman Leah.”

  Palfrey stood quite still, with his hand on the telephone. Duval shifted his position. After a long pause, Alec Merritt asked:

  “Are you there, Sap?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you think he can do it?”

  “I hope we don’t have to find out.”

  “Sap.”

  “Yes?”

  “The British Navy.”

  “I know,” Palfrey said. “The real test of loyalty – to Z5 or to Great Britain. He’s as cunning as he’s powerful, but—”

  “But what?”

  Palfrey answered in a puzzled voice: “Naive?”

  “This devil?”

  “Isn’t he? Cunning but simple and direct. No subtlety.”

  Slowly, Merritt said: “I see what you mean. I shouldn’t place much reliance on that.”

  “I won’t, but it’s worth remembering. Simple, direct and without subtlety, he works on the assumption that force will always get him what he wants.”

  “Perhaps it will.”

  “We’ll see,” Palfrey said. “We’ll see. Anything in since Stefan left?”

  “Not a great deal,” answered Merritt. “Some confirmation that suspects have often vanished at sea.”

  “Under the sea.”

  “What are you driving at?” demanded Merritt.

  Palfrey glanced at Duval, and said slowly: “The freak waves start from beneath the sea. The men and women vanish under or into the sea. There is now this threat to the British Navy.”

  “A great sea power, you mean?”

  “It could be,” Palfrey agreed, non-committally. “Is there any news of Garri-Garri ?”

  “Not really news,” answered Merritt. “I’ve had interim reports from Peverill and Marchesi, in New York. Garri-Garri had done more work than anyone else on extending the human life span. He kept going off into little known places looking for remote tribes, anything and
anyone which would help him to get nearer the secret. Ten years ago he talked of being very near. Then he stopped making claims and went on with his researches. It was said—”

  “That he’d had two or three bad failures, and didn’t propose to make any more statements until he could prove his theories. He boasted that he could add twenty years to the normal human life span.” Everything Palfrey had ever heard about Garri-Garri poured into his mind. “As a Hindu he was brought up to believe in reincarnation, to seeing death as a stepping stone to another, better life. In the higher castes – among the Brahmins particularly, there is less promise of improvement, and more desire for longevity.”

  Palfrey stopped.

  “Sap,” Merritt said. “He disappeared off the coast of Portugal.”

  The memory was still vivid in Palfrey’s mind when he waited for the call to come through at the offices of the shelter. Stefan and Duval were in a small listening-room, into which any conversation could be relayed. They would hear every word.

  Throughout the world, Z5 agents, the regular police forces, the secret services of a hundred nations, were alert for the coming call.

  The telephone bell rang.

  Palfrey started. Stefan raised one hand. Palfrey moved towards the instrument and lifted it.

  “This is Dr Palfrey,” he said very clearly.

  “Dr Palfrey,” a man replied. “I trust you received my message.”

  “Your message,” Palfrey echoed, and to those who did not know him he would have sounded vague. “Now let me see—”

  “I am not here to play.” The voice sharpened.

  “I’m sure you’re not,” Palfrey said. “Just to joke.”

  “Joke? You will find out if I’m joking.”

  “No one would threaten the British Navy except as a joke.”

  “Dr Palfrey,” the man said, “you are to release Leah. She is to be placed in a motor boat, and the boat must be headed towards the spot where the Seafarer was struck at a speed of fifteen knots. There must be no pilot, no watching aircraft, no pursuing vessels. This must begin at five o’clock tomorrow morning. If you have not obeyed, then by noon tomorrow Britain will not have a single ship over 1,000 tons afloat. And I am not joking.”